Don't Let Me Down
by Hello-Violet
Summary: When Dell turns to Violet, she starts to see how much Heather's death has scared him. She promises to take care of him and a part of that is to help take care of Betsy. She never thought she'd be able to learn so much about herself. Read and review.
1. Chapter 1

"I thought I was stronger than this, but I guess I'm really not." Shifting uncomfortably on the couch, Dell looked over next to him to find Violet studying him. He couldn't help but feel uneasy by the intensity in her eyes, like something was really truly wrong with him. "Hey beautiful, can you speak?" he nudged her a bit.

She couldn't help but look at him the way she was. The way he walked into her office today; he looked about ready to break down. "I'm sorry," she fell silent again until she looked up at Dell, the look on his face let her know that he was silently begging for her to speak again. "What do you mean Dell? What happened honey?" she asked, her voice very soft as she reached out and placed a hand on her friend's arm to comfort him.

He swallowed hard and Violet could tell he was thinking about what to say, or how to even begin. "It's okay Dell," she whispered. Once she said that, he bit his lip and nodded.

"What if Betsy isn't okay?" He finally managed. When he looked over at Violet, he could tell she was confused. "With Heather's death… I mean I know she can't just get over it, but what if it bothers her more than she tells me?

"Why, what has she been telling you?" Violet asked curiously, playing the part of both the friend and the psychiatrist.

"She doesn't really say much," he admitted. "You remember how mad she was at first because I didn't let her see her mother before she died. I thought I was doing the right thing. I did do the right thing."

"You did do the right thing Dell."

"But that's not the problem. Every now and then she'll ask me if we could bring flowers to Heather's grave, but that's it. She doesn't tell me if she misses her or anything. I know she does. She has to, that's her mother. I feel like she's keeping it all to herself and I don't want that. I want her to be able to talk to someone about it if it's bothering her so much. More than anything, I want her to talk to me, but if she won't talk to me, then someone else, as long as she doesn't keep bottling it all up."

Gently with her hand, Violet guided Dell's head to her shoulder. When he didn't fight it and rested his head on her, Violet began to run her fingers through his hair gently in attempt to help him calm down. "I know it worries you that she hasn't said much about Heather, but that might be her way of grieving. Everyone grieves differently and maybe she won't say anything now, and maybe at this point it doesn't bother her as much as you think it would, but that's okay," she looked down at Dell for a second. He looked puzzled, staring out in front of him. Tearing her eyes from him, she rested her head on top of his. "Right now she's tearing herself from the situation, but she'll come around. The tears might come in the future and she'll probably start to have a lot of questions and you need to be there to answer them without judging her."

"I won't judge her. I could never do that to her. Since Heather died, I feel like everyone's judging me lately, including myself. I've been so hard on myself and I would never want her to have to feel this way. Never."

"Who do you think is judging you Dell?" the brunette asked softly. "You're either with Betsy or you're here working. Betsy loves you. Sure she was pissed at first that you didn't let her see Heather, but she doesn't judge you. You would do anything for her and she knows it. When you're here, you don't have to worry about being judged either. We all love you; you're a part of our family. Our large twisted, incestuous family," she grinned softly and heard the slightest chuckle from Dell. "But seriously, you're safe here. If everyone here could forgive me for the way I behaved after my attack, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"I feel like you have more of an excuse to insanity though. You were the one who was attacked. You were the one who had your child cut out of you by a sick woman."

"Meanwhile you just got in your car and had just enough time to witness your house explode before pulling away and leaving to assume that everything would be left the same when you got back," Violet reasoned. "You were the one who ran inside that burning house and pulled out your daughter and wife. You have more of an excuse to insanity than I do. I survived and so did Lucas so I should have just moved on from there."

"It's not that easy to just move on though Violet," Dell interrupted.

"Well thank you for proving my point," she said as she messed with his hair a bit. "We're both screwed up Dell and we're both dealing with it differently. I went crazy for months. At first I wouldn't leave the house, and then I went through my 'freeing' honesty stage and claimed I was better, then I ran away like a child and no one knew where I was for weeks, all while I avoided my baby. You on the other hand jumped right back into work while single handedly taking care of your daughter. You're doing fine."

Slowly, Dell wrapped his arms around Violet's waist, pulling her closer, just needing to feel close to someone and there wasn't anyone better than Violet. They've gotten close and it was good because Dell didn't have that one person he was best friends with at work. Of course she had Cooper, but there were times where she'd go to Dell first and he liked having that. He loved it.

Feeling Violet do the same, wrapping her arms around him, Dell managed a faint smile. "I had this dream last night," the way he said it let Violet know that this is what was on his mind when he walked through the door. "On my way to the hospital with Maya, some guy blew a red light and hit us. I appeared to be fine for the most part but it didn't look like Maya was going to make it, so we all focused on her and I end up dying of a brain hemorrhage because I didn't bother to have anyone check on me. I wouldn't let them."

"Honey, you're not dying," Violet told him softly, kissing him on top of the head as she squeezed him a little tighter. "Is that what this is all about? You're afraid of dying now, aren't you?"

"I'm scared of leaving Betsy on her own."

"You're not going anywhere Dell, don't worry. I know it's easier to just say it than to believe it, but please calm down. How long have you been worrying about this? Why didn't you say anything to me?"

"I don't know, I mean of course it bothers me. There's not a scarier thought in this world than to leave your child behind. I wasn't really scared though until this dream. It seemed so real, I could see all of you crying and trying to figure out what to do with Betsy. She was a mess and you were holding her, trying to comfort her."

As much as it confused Violet that she would be the one to comfort a child in Dell's dream after seeing what she's been through with Lucas, she completely skipped past it, not wanting to the focus to be on herself. This was about Dell and helping him. He came to her after all.

Her head still against his, she placed a kiss on his cheek. "Well you're not going anywhere. You're young, you're healthy, and if you were to ever get in any kind of accident, we'd be helping you in a heart beat. You know we would, especially me. I would never let you go without full inspection from something even as simple as a paper cut."

Dell looked up at Violet, smiling at her as he ran a hand through her brown, straightened hair. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me Dell; I just wouldn't let anything happen to you and I know you'd do the same for me. We've both been through terrible things and we know now that we have to be careful. We can take care of each other."

Smiling up at her, Dell placed a friendly kiss on her lips. "Okay," he whispered softly. "I won't let anything happen to you."

She smiled back at him, seeing how easy it was for her to make him feel better. "And I won't let anything happen to you. We'll be okay."


	2. Chapter 2

Pushing open the door, Violet waited for Dell to go inside before following him in. "It's kind of a mess, I'm sorry," she told him as she closed the door. The first thing she did was lock up, still paranoid from the attack. She was pretty sure that she'd never be able to step ten feet into her house unless the door was locked. When she looked over at Dell, she could tell that he noticed the way she rushed to get the door closed. They looked each other in the eyes for a couple seconds and Violet tried to think of something to say to break the silence, but nothing came to her mind.

Dell could tell she was struggling to come up with something to say and it was awkward for her. Right where they stood was where the attack took place. He couldn't blame her for rushing to get that door closed. "Umm…" He took his eyes off of her for a moment, looking around the house. "If you call this a mess, you'd probably beat me if you saw my apartment."

She smiled at his attempt to change the subject. He was an angel. "Yeah, that bad?" she asked, a grin pulling from her lips. "And just for the record, I wouldn't be able to beat you," she walked past him, messing with his hair. Looking back at him, she stuck her tongue out playfully. "You'd have me in a headlock in a split second."

"Hey," he fixed his hair before following Violet from behind. "Do you really think I'd pin you down? Maybe if you were an asshole and I couldn't stand you, but you're pretty cool."

"Hey thanks, I'm pretty cool," she mocked teasingly.

"More than pretty cool, you're amazing Vi. You're not headlock material. Plus I'm sure if I tried, you'd come out with some hidden taekwondo shit and kick my ass."

As they entered the living room, Violet turned her body around to face Dell with a laugh. "Me kick your ass? You're kidding right? You're like a body builder," she reached out and squeezed his arm. "God damn Dell, what are you on steroids?" she teased as she moved her hand to his chest which was rock solid. "Wow."

He had a grin on his face, but it faded slowly as he looked down at her. "What?"

She shrugged her shoulders, looking up at him. "I don't know. It's actually pretty hot," she told him with a bit of a smirk.

"What's hot?" he asked and she could tell he was asking her just to hear her say it.

Violet rolled her eyes with a sigh. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?" she asked, watching his terrible attempt to hide the grin on his face. "You're hot. There, are you happy?"

"Not when you say it like it's a chore or something."

She didn't want to, but she started laughing anyway as she looked him in the eyes. He started to laugh with her, which made her a bit more comfortable. "You're hot Dell. It's not a chore telling you, I'll tell you as many times as you want if that's what it takes to prove it.

For a minute they were silent, just looking each other in the eyes, as though waiting for the other to say something. Neither did for a while, until Violet of course broke it. It wasn't like Violet to be quiet, ever. "Why was it so important for you to hear me say that anyway?" she asked. "Now I'm putting you on the spot," she teased, sticking her tongue out playfully like a child.

Dell reached up and tapped her chin with a finger. "Real cute Violet, thanks, I hate being put on the spot," he told her with a laugh before realizing that it was only fair. "I don't know, I guess I just wanted to hear it. It actually means something coming from you.

"Why does it matter what I think?" she asked with a smirk. It made absolutely no sense that an attractive man so much younger would care about how she feels about his physical appearance.

"Well you're someone I know personally and someone I care about on top of that. There aren't many people that I have good relationships with, so it means something especially when someone so beautiful compliments me," he smiled.

Violet smiled up at him, shaking her head. "William Dell Parker, don't you joke like that."

"William? Am I in trouble?" he asked teasingly before growing a bit more serious. "I do mean it though Violet. You're a very beautiful person. Why would I joke like that?"

She could have put up a fight, but instead, she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. When he put his arms around her waist, she looked up at him with a smile. Confidence has been extremely low since the attack and he was helping in ways she was sure he didn't understand. It was the little things really, but sharing the moments with someone who's been through something very tragic as well helped. Having someone who could relate on some level helped a lot. "What I said wasn't a compliment. What you said was though. Saying that I'm beautiful is something that you want to hear, not that you're hot. I mean you are but Dell, you shouldn't settle for just being called hot because you are beautiful. You're very beautiful."

"You don't have to say it just because I did Violet, but you're sweet," he told her in a very soft voice to the point where it was almost a whisper.

"Okay, now you are in trouble William," she teased. "I wouldn't say something if I didn't mean it and you know that for a fact. You're a very beautiful person and not just on the outside, so don't doubt yourself for a minute. If you do, then I might have to unleash my taekwondo."

Dell let out a chuckle, nodding his head. "See, I knew you were a ninja in hiding."

Violet shook her head with a laugh. "You're ridiculous."

"But you love me," he grinned.

She nodded her head. "Yes, I do love you," she felt him pull her a bit closer to his body. It didn't make her uncomfortable or anything. She got up on her tippy toes in hopes to stand his height, but she was still off slightly.

Seeing what she was attempting to do, he grinned softly and got up on his tip toes just to mess with her.

"Hey," she whined like a child.

"You're adorable," he told her with a laugh as he stood flat on his feet even though Violet didn't, still trying to gain more height. "Violet, it's not going to work."

She shook her head with a laugh. "Yes it will, I have an idea," she could see the look of doubt on his face so just to prove him wrong, she made a great attempt to hold herself up, her arms still around Dell's neck, trying to gain even a centimeter more just to prove her point.

"I have a better idea," he told her with a laugh, seeing how her idea was an epic fail and she was oddly determined. Moving his hands down her back, he moved past her butt. To his surprise, it didn't even seem to phase Violet. "Jump," he finally told her and as she did, he lifted her up a bit.

Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist as he held her. She looked at him, a grin on both of their faces. "And I thought of that all by myself."

He laughed. "You thought of that? Funny, I kind of remember it being my idea."

"Oh shush, let me win."

"Okay beautiful, whatever you say."

Violet flashed a grin of defeat even though it didn't really count. Dell would let her win no matter what. She could be arguing that the sky was green and he'd let her win just to give her the satisfaction. "Good choice, wise one," she smirked before placing a quick kiss on his lips. She could tell that Dell was a lot calmer now than he was when he first showed up at her office today. He was himself again now and better yet, she was herself for the first time in such a long time. He was exactly what she needed.


End file.
